Quantum Tachyon Drive
"Went to the Space naval show out on the orbital platforms couple of years back. Saw the Flying tusk squadron show off their new Tachyon jump systems. Twelve fighters all on collision courses suddenly turnin into a burst of light and re-appearin over the stadium half a second later completely unharmed. Buncha crazy bastards...Real pretty though." ~Goru'lt D'knaaaar, Lt Colonal Space force, Retired ---- What it is A Tachyon is a particle that operates as a luxon (particles that are always moving faster than the speed of light) Which at a Quantum level operates as such due to what is referred to as imaginary mass. Believed to be formed the same was as other particles and neutrinos within the radioactive furnaces of the sun as a pairing wherein the particles encountered normally have a quantifiable mass, and Tachyons have imaginary mass, though both are constrained by the light-speed barrier. The more energy you put in to accelerate a normal particle approaches infinite as one accelerates it towards the speed of light, one has to put more energy into a Tachyon to Slow it down closer to the speed of light again approaching infinite energy to cross over (tachyons getting slower the more energy is applied). What this means for travel is the Tachyon drive operates in two parts. First is a Formation of a Quantum Tachyonic Field, which can best be described as a coiled spring of energized Tachyonic particles (Remember tachyons decelerate as they are energized) that expand from the entrance point to the destination point like an spring being held at one point and stretched outward to the destination. The second is the Imaginary mass generator, which Quantum locks all the material within it's field, and then converts all the regular particles within the field into responding as if they had Imaginary mass, effectively converting the entire craft into tachyons. Once this has been done the New Tachyons interfere and integrate with the Quantum tachyon field (Due to Quantum resonance) and with a release of energy (usually viewed as a burst of light and residual thermal heat) causes the closest tachyons in the field to re-accelerate, effectively collapsing the nearest part of the "Spring" and forcing it to collapse towards the slower end at the destination, and due to Quantum resonance drags the Vessel along. When the tachyon "Spring" has reached it's fully collapsed state (AKA Destination) The Imaginary mass Generator Shuts down and the particles of the vessel respond as if they had regular mass instead of imaginary mass again, effectively causing the Ship to cease reacting as if they were Tachyons and respond instead again as if it were normal matter. Since all the matter of the Vessel is quantum locked during the transit, perceptions of those on board will appear to have transited instantaneously. One instant they will be at one location, in the next instant elsewhere. The Quantum Tachyon field still responds in relation to relativistic time dependent on the distance traveled (or as how much energy would need eliminated from the "Spring" equates to how much time passes relative from outside observer vs. Ship observer). Though with the usual range a Tachyon drive is capable of operating at most seems to have the ship in transit for a relativistic period of 42 Standard Earth Hours. This is assuming on maximum distance with minimal energy put into the system, with an application of more energy at the initial Tachyon field formation, the more rapid the transit seems to go as the acceleration of de-energizing is more rapid. ---- Benefits & Drawbacks Since the entire vehicle is Quantum locked by the process, the travel time for the occupants are effectively instantaneous, which in many short trips from nearby systems saves on life support supplies that may be used up in the course of a Dimensional, Warp, FTL or Slipstream drive where the crew is still active. Though for longer trips a series of jumps at maximum range may take some time to plot and execute, the actual time in transit does not use up air, food or water supplies. Since the entrance point is the Ship itself, and the destination point can be set non-relative to the direction the craft is moving when engaged, the Tachyon drive allows for some rather strange maneuvers, especially in space combat. A Corvette can be accelerating away from an enemy, power up their Tachyon drive and set a destination point In a straight line to a relative "up" position on their Foe, engage it and suddenly appear along an entirely different vector and bring their weapons to bear. Likewise it makes it nearly impossible to determine a course set by a fleeing ship (Like one can with a Dimensional Jump drive) based on direction at time of transit, as they could have set the destination anywhere, which can be a boon to those who may need to become untraceable for whatever reason. Additionally the build up of Energy required for such a drive is readable on most modern sensors both at the entrance and exit points of the transit, and even before. weapons that may disrupt a ships energy systems or previous damage can cause the drive to fail which could result in either not transiting, dropping back out far too soon, or if the field collapses intermittently, spreading the atoms of the vessel over the entire course of the tachyon field, essentially making a Light-years long path of interstellar dust. The system itself also has some difficulties. Not just in range limitations, but in the fact that Quantum locking the vessel and everything within over the course of several jumps will start to build up Vacuum energy within the atoms of the vessel which needs to be bled out or otherwise dispersed from the atomic structure. A lot of ships will have a series of Capacitor banks that absorbs and routes the excess energy to a central bank, that can, in effect, be used for opening another tachyon jump, however if this excess energy is not handled in some manner the atoms of the ship become excitable and charged and could even spontaneously initiate Atomic Fission in a Nuclear cascade. Finally certain types of generator cores respond badly if active or even being used while operating a Tachyon drive. Most specifically Anti-matter reactors are incompatible with the Shifting to Imaginary mass and effectively become Anti-tachyon particles which are unable to be contained by standard means and when the ship shifts will react with the regular tachyons for a standard atomic annihilation cascade. it's believed this is due to a quirk of physics where the normal magnetic containment field used for Anti-matter ceases to be able to contain Anti-tachyons and they escape and interact with the pseudo tachyons the ship has become. Other types of atomic Nuclear reactors (Fission or Fusion) seem to have no problem, though due to a build up of energy in the particles themselves (as previously mentioned) the temperature may spike considerably as the atoms become charged. Certain other types of reactors merely need to be put into standby or shutdown mode during a jump and can be powered up after complete. It is suggested to check with the manufacturer whether or not your reactor type is compatible with a Tachyon drive before having one installed. ---- On Tachyons and Potential Time Travel One of the key concepts in a lot of fiction is that Tachyons are capable of being responsible for travel backwards in time. This is probably mostly due to misconceptions concerning relativity of physical matter traveling near the speed of light, and because a lot is mis-understood about how the particles actually work. not to mention the fact that Tachyons have a "cool name" that allows most writers to get away with tossing the term into the reasoning for their time travel stories, and having it believed. Tachyons are not a way to travel backwards through time, they exist in Four-dimensional space the same as other particles. In fact they experience a similar relativity effect the slower they get towards the Speed of light. Experiments done with particle acceleration, tachyons and Time travel seem to fail as the particles are unable to transit. This is believed because de-accelerating faster than light particles towards Light speed or towards it reaches a threshold point that cannot be broken. Some Physicists believe that what is at work is a Quantum Paradox. The same way that particles can become quantumly entangled and resonate, the same particle from a different time resonates with the particle it used to be. Creating a buildup of Entropy between the particles that causes them to Annihilate each other. This then instantly creates a paradox where if the particle was not there in the past then it could never have come back to destroy itself from the future, therefore it cannot travel to the past, ergo it does not travel to the past despite all the energy or experimentation put at it. The instant it could have traveled to the past it didn't because it wouldn't have existed to be able to do so. There are races known that have worked out a way of traveling through time, however their methods do not seem to make use of Tachyons, so although it makes for good reading, the use of tachyons to go visit your great-grandparent for afternoon tea is a means of fiction.